Dumfries lecturer Wallace Currie has made a New Year’s resolution to complete a fundraising charity walk…in 2025.
He had to abandon the challenge in July when he suffered a leg injury after being struck by a van on the island of Arran in a horror accident.
Wallace, 27, on Boxing Day, had vowed to complete the event in 2024 but now he has been selected for a prestigious scholarship which will involve him travelling all over the world while still working as an agricultural lecturer at SRUC (Scotland’s Rural College) Barony, Parkgate, on the outskirts of Dumfries.
He said: “There are only 23 cohorts in total for the Nuffield Farming global international scholarship and I have just been accepted as one of them so my New Year’s resolution has gone on hold until 2025 now as I will be travelling to Holland, Switzerland, Japan, Brazil and Singapore.
“I had done about half of the 180km walk in July before being hit by a VW van.
“I struggled to go on but in the end my foot was just too loose. I had gone to accident and emergency in Arran and the doctors said I had torn a calf muscle.
“I have quite a high pain threshold so I decided to go on for a few days and then it just became too much and I had to stop.
“The idea was to raise about £2,000 for the Scottish Association of Young Farmers’ Clubs and Rural Samaritans and I have actually got £2,500 so far, but I want to raise more by completing it.”
Wallace, originally from Arran, now stays at Georgetown in Dumfries.
He added: “It was a shame that I had to postpone it, but the scholarship is such a prestigious thing and it was such a long process to apply for.
“And the travelling will now involve 17 flights in 94 days but it will help with agriculture throughout the world in various projects. We are due to start in March.”
Wallace is no stranger to foreign travel and adventure after taking part in driving supplies to war-torn Ukraine.
He said: “That was through the organisation called Pick Ups for Peace and, through charity donations by them, we drove supplies to Ukraine and spent two days there.
“We took things like tow ropes, medical supplies and tyres to Lviv. We drove through Holland, Germany and Poland to get there and got the train back as we were not allowed to fly.
“Thankfully we never experienced any gunfire or shelling, but we did see mass graves.”
